American Go E-Journal » 2017 » October

Daniel Kahneman, author of the best-selling book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” mentions go in a recent “On Being” interview. “On Being” is a Peabody Award-winning public radio show and podcast hosted by Krista Tippett. “At about 1:25:30, he is in the midst of talking about artificial intelligence when he mentions my favorite game — the ancient board game of go,” writes Howard Cornett in a blog post. “He talks about how he is fascinated by the fact that a computer program has finally beaten professional humans at a game that is based largely on System 1 thinking, or intuition.”

Taking in a view of Mount Fuji on your way to a go tournament might seem like a dream but for a week next February it’ll be reality at theTokugawa Memorial Go Congress in Shizuoka, Japan. The first-ever event will run from February 11-18, 2018, with just one game in the main tournament daily, the rest of the day occupied with other events including instruction and commentaries by professional go players, as well as a 13×13 tournament, go relay, and kids tournament. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which effectively ruled Japan from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

The Seattle Go Center 22nd Anniversary Tournament attracted 40 players on Oct. 1. They used newly refinished go boards, and enjoyed pizza provided by the AGA Rewards program. The tournament went smoothly, despite the good-sized crowd, and it has already been rated by the AGA.

The Open Section filled up with eight players. The winner was Kai Fugami, playing his first tournament at the Go Center. Kai grew up in Japan, and for a while he was an insei with the Kansai Ki-in. He is a 8-dan amateur in Japan. Kai’s dad grew up in Seattle, and Kai’s family has now moved to Bellingham. Kai is in college now.

Second place in the Open Section went to Alex (Xinlei) Liu. He is currently an AGA 7 dan. Alex won the Go Center Spring Tournament this year, and placed second to Yue Zhang last year in the Anniversary Tournament. Third place went to Yichen Li, who currently has an AGA 6 dan rating.

The Children’s Prize went to Austen Li, who won all his games in the Handicapped Section. He also placed first in the Double Digit Kyu Player Group. Young Amy Ling placed second in this group.

The Upper Group of the Handicapped Section extended up to 2 dan. It was won by Brendan Roof, who selected both volumes of Cho Chikun’s “All About Life and Death” for his prize. The books were donated to the Go Center. Former Board member Dan (Denga) Tang placed second.

Friends of the Seattle Go Center should note that the Anniversary Party will held on Sunday, October 15, starting at 4 p.m.photo: Kai Fugami during one of his games. Photo/Report by Brian Allen

Yinli (Audrey) Wang has triumphed after a round-robin and elimination qualifier to become the North American representative to the 8th Suzhou Qionglong Mountain Bingsheng Cup World Women Weiqi Tournament. Sixteen women from around the world will be competing at scenic Qionglong Mountain (famous for being the location where Sun Tsu wrote “The Art of War”), from November 6-10 with a top prize of 300,000 RMB (approximately $45,500 US).

Michael Redmond’s series of commentaries on the fascinating AlphaGo-AlphaGo games has proven extremely popular, with nearly 90,000 views so far, and lots of comments from viewers. Today Redmond, along with host Chris Garlock, releases his first Q&A video, responding to some of those questions. “It’s been a wonderful challenge, not only trying to understand these complex, historic games, but figuring out how to explain them,” says Redmond, “so the response to the videos has been quite gratifying and we’re pleased to acknowledge and respond in this new series of Q&A videos.”

Register now for the fourth Gotham Go Tournament, coming up Saturday, November 18th in New York City. “We expect to reach our capacity of 80 players so register early,” says organizer Peter Armenia. You can register and pay online (“Don’t worry,” Armenia says, “if you can’t make it we will give you a refund.”) Players of all strengths welcome; breakfast bagels, snacks, coffee and goodies provided.

The Santa Fe Go Club held its third tournament of the year on September 30. A dozen players ranging in skill level participated. There were boards and players scattered all over a private home. Jason Stearns was first in the top division; Carolyn Atterbury was first in the second division. Prizes were go books from Slate and Shell, and go-themed t-shirts. “Our club is planning to participate in a regional tournaments in Boulder, Colorado, and to send members to the upcoming Cotsen tournament and another in Plano, Texas early next year,” reports Lewis Geer.- photo: Steve Uhl and Robert Gilman, past EVP of the AGA; photo by Lewis Geer

Chen An tops Triangle Memorial Go tournament: Chen An 7d topped the open section with a perfect 4-0 score at the 17th Triangle Memorial Go tournament, organized by the Triangle Go Club and held on September 30. A total of 40 players participated in the competition. Qingbo Zhang 5d from Virginia won second place. In the 2d to 1k section, Suyoung Yoon 2d won first place and Xiaoping Wu 1d was the runner-up. Sergio Parreiras 3k and Bob Bacon 6k won first place and second place in the 2k-6k section. In the 7k-9k section, Thomas Roncoli 8k won first and Leroy Anderson 8k was secobd. Justin Su 20k and Ellen Zeng 10k won first and second place in the 10k and up section.- Jeff Kuang; photo: Chen An (left, in blue jacket). Click here for more pictures.

Horn and Cha win in Davis-Sac: The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Fall Tournament on September 30 at the Rancho Cordova library in Sacramento. There was a small field of six players. Jeff Horn (left) won the upper division and Tai-An Cha the lower division. Both had 4-0 records.- Willard Haynes

The go club in Walla Walla, Washington is small, says Steve Tanner, “but dedicated.” The club, an AGA chapter, has been in continuous existence for several years and local go players gather in a local pizza shop every Wednesday evening. “In an effort to get some new publicity and attention for the club, two of the members decided to set up their goban on the Walla Walla Main Street sidewalk and play a game,” Tanner reports. “The goban gets people looking,” the club reported on its Facebook page, where they posted some shots. They plan to do a similar setup in other public locations around town in the future.

Part 2 of the Game 10 commentary begins at move 113. “At this point, the game looked ready for a peaceful endgame, with White in the lead.”says Michael Redmond 9p in his commentary. “By move 121, however, White has given away about 20 points, an unexpected trade that transforms the game radically. Back in a wildly dangerous middle game, complications that arise from a fight in the center will put ten groups in danger.”

“Looking forward to these every week,” Leo Dorst commented on Part 1, echoing the sentiments of many viewers. “Such a great way to start the weekend after a late Friday night at the Amsterdam Go Club. Rereading my old Go World magazines I see Michael moving to Japan. If he had not done so and trained there, we might not now have these wonderful commentaries. Sometimes the world just makes sense…” Watch for a Q&A video here next week with Redmond in which he responds to selected comments.

The Game 10 videos are produced by Michael Wanek and Andrew Jackson. The sgf files were created by Redmond, with editing and transcription by Garlock and Myron Souris.